Angels Hire Kurt Suzuki As Manager

The Angels’ managerial search is over, as the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that former big league catcher and current Halos special assistant Kurt Suzuki has been hired as the team’s new bench boss.

Suzuki was one of multiple former Angels players who was linked to the managerial vacancy.  Albert Pujols emerged as the initial candidate for the job and was seen as the favorite, before news broke yesterday that Pujols wouldn’t be the hire.  As per reports from both Heyman and The Athletic’s Sam Blum, Pujols and the Angels couldn’t line up on a contract, as well as on “coaches and resources,” in Heyman’s words.  Longtime Angels outfielder Torii Hunter was another candidate for the job but he also fell out of race yesterday.

Other names linked to the search included candidates with past experience managing at the big league level, including Rocco Baldelli, Brandon Hyde, and Los Angeles’ own third base coach (and former Astros skipper) Bo Porter.  It isn’t known if the Halos actually spoke with any of these speculative candidates, or if the team was impressed enough by what they heard from Suzuki that they went ahead and made the hire.

Like Pujols and Hunter, Suzuki has no experience managing or coaching at the Major League or minor league levels.  Since his retirement following the 2022 season, Suzuki moved into his role as a special assistant to Angels GM Perry Minasian.  This wasn’t Suzuki’s only foray into a managerial search, however, as the Giants interviewed him about their own dugout vacancy earlier this month.  (It would appear that San Francisco is instead going with University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello for that job, though a deal between the two sides isn’t yet finalized.)

The 42-year-old Suzuki becomes the latest in a long line of ex-catchers to become MLB managers, and the Angels’ pick continues a more recent trend towards teams hiring fairly recently retired players without much or any of a managerial or coaching background.  The Guardians’ Stephen Vogt is perhaps the most prominent example of this, as Vogt retired after the 2022 season, and then spent a year on the Mariners’ coaching staff before Cleveland tabbed him as Terry Francona’s replacement.

In regards to the Angels, Suzuki’s hire is a departure from the organization’s preference towards experienced managers under Arte Moreno’s ownership.  Mike Scioscia was inherited as the skipper when Moreno bought the team in 2003 and Scioscia continued managing through the 2018 season.  From there, the Halos hired Brad Ausmus and Joe Maddon as their next two skippers, before Maddon was fired partway through the 2022 campaign and replaced by interim manager Phil Nevin (who had never managed a big league club).  Nevin remained in charge through 2023 before he too was let go, and longtime former Rangers manager Ron Washington was brought on board in advance of the 2024 campaign.

Washington’s own tenure was cut short by health reasons, as he went on a leave of absence this past June to recover from quadruple bypass surgery.  Bench coach Ray Montgomery took over managerial duties for the remainder of this season, and while Washington hoped to return to the job in 2026, the Angels instead decided to go in an entirely new direction by hiring another manager.

The fact that Suzuki will be the seventh different person to manage the Angels within a nine-year span speaks to the difficult challenge facing Suzuki in his new job.  Los Angeles has posted losing records in each of the last 10 seasons, and has been to the playoffs just once in their last 16 seasons.  A number of ill-advised signings, lack of farm system help, and a general sense of instability has plagued the franchise, with Moreno’s heavy-handed interference in baseball operations often cited as the reason for the team’s lack of success.  Minasian has been the general manager since November 2020 and is under contract through 2026, but he is also the Angels’ fifth GM under Moreno (Bill Stoneman had separate stints as the full-time GM and as an interim GM).

Suzuki naturally has an idea of what he’s getting into, having worked in the Halos’ front office for three years and spending his final two seasons as a player with the team.  The Hawaii native’s ties to the Anaheim area date back to his college days as a player with Cal State Fullerton, and his playing career began as a second-round pick for the Athletics in the 2004 draft.  Suzuki suited up for five different teams over his 16-year playing career, which was highlighted by an All-Star appearance with the Twins in 2014 and a World Series ring with the Nationals in 2019.

With the Angels’ position now filled, there are still seven other teams on the hunt for new managers in 2026.  The Giants, Padres, Orioles, Braves, Twins, Nationals, and Rockies all need new skippers, though Colorado will first be hiring a new top front office executive before turning its attention to a managerial search.

Photo courtesy of David Banks – Imagn Images